text:
About this template:
Baby is an awesome site template that can perfectly used to highlight the birth of a baby. You can add some information about the birth, the birthday, the birthplace, etc.
Replace the images with pictures from your baby and share it with the world. Everything is very easy to edit and the best possibility to show everyone your little luck.
1.1) Included Nivo Slider
By the way:
You will get a template which is featured on cssmania.com, one of the biggest website showcases out there
Related Files
Check this Baby brochure on graphicriver: http://graphicriver.net/item/baby-brochure-template/3080486


text:
Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases
WASHINGTON, March 15, 2011 - Acting on intelligence reports, Afghan and coalition forces captured a Haqqani terrorist network facilitator and detained two other suspected insurgents in the Khost district of Afghanistan's Khost province yesterday, military officials reported.
The facilitator provided financial, media and logistical support to the network and recently coordinated the delivery of roadside bombs for an upcoming attack, officials said.
In other operations around Afghanistan yesterday:
-- Afghan and coalition forces acting on intelligence information in Zabul province's Shajoy district captured a Taliban leader responsible for roadside-bomb activity.
-- In Helmand province's Kajaki district, a coalition patrol killed four insurgents after seeing them setting up firing positions.
-- In Helmand's Nahr-e Sarij district, a coalition patrol found an enemy stockpile consisting of seven pressure plates, 11 saw blades, 10 metal pieces, five metal cylinders, three foam pieces, two carbon rods, three rifle tail fins, a rifle propellant, a bag of explosives, four anti-personnel mines, two rocket fuses, 10 bags of shrapnel, a bag of propellant, three jugs of adhesive and two hacksaws.
-- A coalition patrol in Kandahar province's Spin Boldak district found 10,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate -- a banned fertilizer used in making roadside bombs -- as well as six complete roadside bombs, 10 pressure plates and 300 feet of detonation cord.
-- Acting on intelligence information, Afghan and coalition forces in Logar province's Charkh district captured a Taliban member involved in a bomb-attack network. He was directly involved in booby-trapping a house with explosives in the Charkh Bazaar on Feb. 28, officials said.
-- In Paktia province's Zormat district and Khost province's Khost district, Afghan and coalition forces searching for Haqqani network facilitators detained several suspected insurgents.
-- Several insurgents were killed after attacking a coalition patrol in Helmand's Reg-e Khan Neshin district.
-- Afghan and coalition forces in Helmand's Nahr-e Saraj district found five 150 mm shells linked to a pressure plate, two high-explosive rounds and two 107 mm rockets.
-- In Kapisa province's Tagab district, a combined Afghan and coalition patrol found 103 9 mm rounds, 30 hand grenades, a bayonet, 257 7.62 mm rounds, two combat jackets and various handguns.
-- Afghan and coalition in Kabul province's Musahi district found 100 rocket-propelled grenades.
©2013- Veterans Internet Service
Not Affliated with DOD or any Government agency

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Server virtualization is no longer a one-horse race, as Microsoft, Citrix and others compete more convincingly with market leader VMware
VMware has enjoyed a long run as king of x86 server virtualization, and the pioneering vendor remains the one to beat when tallying enterprise market share. But its competitors, particularly Microsoft and Citrix Systems, are gaining ground as IT executives begin to view server virtualization not only as a means to cut costs in the data center but also as a baseline technology for enabling cloud computing.
VMware introduced its first x86 server virtualization products in 2001. It wasn't until a few years later that the first commercial versions of the open source Xen virtualization hypervisor hit the market, and Microsoft's release of Hyper-V followed in 2008.
With its generous head start, VMware started winning customers, particularly among large enterprises looking to save money and gain efficiencies by consolidating data center assets. As interest in the technology rose, so did VMware's marketshare. In early 2008, researchers estimated that at least 50% and as many as 80% of enterprise customers were using its hypervisor.
Despite the high numbers, the race to virtualization is by no means over. Virtualization deployments have been expanding over the past several years, but plenty of workloads remain to be virtualized. At the end of 2009, only 18% of enterprise data center workloads that could be virtualized had been virtualized, according to Gartner. The number is expected to grow to more than 50% by the close of 2012.
Vendors including Microsoft, Citrix (which acquired XenSource in 2007), Oracle (which acquired Virtual Iron in 2009), Parallels, Novell and others are gunning for new virtualized workloads, and they're using management capabilities, automation technologies and vendor partnerships to sweeten and differentiate their offerings.
These tactics are timely. As today's IT buyers mull virtualization technologies, they're considering a lot more than just the hypervisor used to create virtual machines. IT teams need tools to manage virtual server technologies from x86 environments back to the mainframe, across multi-platform hypervisors and consistently alongside physical machines. They also need security and monitoring tools, and capabilities such as live migration to maintain business continuity.
Enterprises have learned they need to carefully track the configuration of virtual machines to ensure compliance with business policies and prevent virtual server sprawl – particularly as they get their IT infrastructures ready for cloud computing.
Virtualization is a critical step in the journey to the private cloud, according to Matt Eastwood, group vice president of enterprise platforms at IDC. "Customers are quickly moving beyond the core hypervisor and focusing on mobility, self-provisioning, and metering and chargeback capabilities," Eastwood said in a statement. "As a result, IDC believes that automation tools increasingly represent the battleground in determining the winners and losers in a marketplace which is rapidly reshaping itself."
For its part, VMware has been beefing up its management and automation capabilities, most recently by acquiring IT management technologies from EMC's Ionix portfolio for about $200 million. It also is part of a three-way partnership with Cisco and EMC to develop a series of cloud-computing platforms, called Vblocks, that are based on servers and networking gear from Cisco, EMC's storage, and VMware's VSphere virtualization software.
In its latest Magic Quadrant for x86 server virtualization infrastructure, Gartner recognizes VMware as the market leader. But it also acknowledges some challenges.
"VMware's challenge is to protect and grow its installed base and technology leadership as it expands into complementary markets that leverage virtualization, such as cloud computing," Gartner writes in its report, released in late May.
Citrix, meanwhile, has emphasized its virtualization management offerings – both for its own XenServer hypervisor and longtime partner Microsoft's Hyper-V platform – and made its hypervisor technology available for free to entice customers.
"Its bold move to make XenServer (including XenCenter and XenMotion) free has resulted in a large upswing of product activations. However, the vendor has not yet been able to monetize that with product maintenance agreements or its add-on Essentials management offering," Gartner writes about Citrix in its Magic Quadrant. "Citrix is also trying to find a comfortable complementary role with Microsoft's Hyper-V, adding extended management tools to Microsoft's offering (which might reduce its reliance on its own offering, XenServer)."
Microsoft, too, has been working to emphasize virtualization management capabilities available in its Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager, and it has emphasized its multi-vendor approach to management. By making its hypervisor available for free, packaged with Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has steadily gained price-conscious users, particularly among midsize companies.
"Microsoft competes very well in midsize organizations that are just now beginning to virtualize," Gartner writes in its market evaluation. "Microsoft's biggest challenge is overcoming VMware's deep market penetration in all but smaller enterprises that have been slow to virtualize. In many ways, Microsoft has been left with the late technology adopters."
Pricing remains an important customer draw for Microsoft, Gartner says. "Microsoft's biggest trump card is that it does not need virtualization to be a stand-alone business, so it will be able to maintain a price advantage on VMware."
So who's the winner? VMware's early lead has been tough for its competitors to overcome. But in the big picture, there are plenty of widespread virtualization deployments still to be undertaken by midsize and large enterprises. As the key players compete for mindshare, enterprises get to enjoy the benefits of more mature offerings


text:
Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Although earthquakes are rare in the Midwest, St. Joseph experienced several in the last half of the nineteenth century. The book History of Buchanan County and St. Joseph recounted one early earthquake.
Text From History of Buchanan County & St. Joseph
St. Joseph was violently shaken by an earthquake on April 24, 1867. The shock occurred at 2:35 o'clock in the afternoon. At first there was an ominous rumbling sound, then a rocking movement from east to west and west to east, which continued for 20 seconds. The alarmed populace sought the streets and there was intense excitement. The public school buildings shook, the plastering cracked, huge seams being observed in the walls; the children screamed and the teachers, being bewildered and perplexed, dismissed the frightened pupils and hastened to their homes. Never before was there such consternation in the city. In a few seconds the air was as calm, the earth as tranquil, the face of nature as placid and everything as harmonious as though nothing unusual had occurred. No damage was done to property.


text:
Doctor's Sick / Fit Note for more than 7 days
If you have been ill for more than 7 days you will need a doctor's certificate. These certificates are called 'Fitness To Work' Certificates.
The doctor may call you or arrange for an appointment.
Your certificate will be ready for collection within a week unless the doctor wishes to see you again


text:
Banhammer: Protect your site against enemy hordes!
Banhammer gives you full control over who and what may access your site. Visit the Armory to monitor traffic and review suspicious visitors. If you find some user or bot that is causing problems, you can ban them with a click. Or, if you just want to keep an eye on someone, you can flag them with a warning. Any banned users will be denied access to your site, until you restore access via the Tower. Check out the video and screenshots to get a better idea of how it works.
Important: Not yet compatible with WP Multisite!
Core Features
- Ban or Warn any WP user or IP address
- Restore access to any banned targets
- Monitor site traffic in the Armory
- Monitor logged users in the Admin Area
- Monitor all visitors on the front-end
- Manage banned targets in the Tower
- Complete Ajax-powered navigation
- Useful tools like jump, sort, search
- Complete documentation via Help tab
- Automatically clear logged data
- Sound effects for Ban, Warn, et al
- NEW: manually block any IP address
Options Galore
- Optionally ignore logged-in users
- Optionally protect Login Page and Admin Area
- Customize the banned response and status code
- Display banned message or redirect the request
- Choose the interval to clear logged data
- One-click restore plugin default options
- All collected data may be deleted easily
More Features
- Easy to use
- Clean code
- Fast and secure
- Built with WP API
- Lightweight and flexible
- Regularly updated and "future proof"
- Works great with any WordPress theme
- Comprehensive search of all logged data
- Works great with other WordPress plugins
- Works with or without Gutenberg Block Editor
- Focused on usability, performance, and security
Banhammer is perfect for site owners, admins, and developers who want to keep an eye on traffic and block any unwanted visitors. It is a simple, flexible, and powerful security solution. Perfect for the best WordPress sites.
For complete documentation, visit the Help tab on any Banhammer screen.
+ Banhammer Pro now available »
User Data: Banhammer collects user data to "do its thing". The collected data is temporary and automatically deleted every day, or at whatever time interval is specified in the plugin settings. The only time that any data is "remembered" is when you ban something. For each person/thing that you ban, the plugin stores either the IP address OR the username (never both). At any time, all saved data may be deleted permanently via the plugin settings and Armory Tools.
Cookies: Banhammer does not set any cookies for regular visitors, but does set a few simple cookies for admin-level users. These simple cookies enable dope effects and interactivity in the Armory and Tower UI. But no cookies are set or used for any other visitor/user or purpose.
Services: Banhammer uses a free lookup service for GeoIP information. This happens only for admin-level users when they are viewing data in the Armory or Tower. No other third-party services are used by this plugin.
Banhammer is developed and maintained by Jeff Starr, 15-year WordPress developer and book author.
Support development
I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can make a donation or purchase one of my books:
- The Tao of WordPress
- Digging into WordPress
- .htaccess made easy
- WordPress Themes In Depth
- Wizard's SQL Recipes for WordPress
And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins:
- BBQ Pro – Super fast WordPress firewall
- Blackhole Pro – Automatically block bad bots
- Banhammer Pro – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys
- GA Google Analytics Pro – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics
- Simple Ajax Chat Pro – Unlimited chat rooms
- USP Pro – Unlimited front-end forms
Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂
Important: PHP Requirement
Before installing, make sure your server has either cURL
or file_get_contents()
enabled. Banhammer requires at least one of these functions to do its thing.
Install Banhammer
- Upload the plugin and activate
- Configure the plugin settings as desired
- Visit the Armory to monitor traffic and ban/warn any unwanted visitors
- Visit the Tower to manage any banned/warned targets
More info on installing WP plugins
Caching Plugins
Banhammer works with any type of caching plugin where "page caching" is not enabled.
There are many types of cache plugins. They provide all sorts of different caching mechanisms and features. All caching features work great with Banhammer except for "page caching". With page caching, the required WP init
hook may not be fired, which means that plugins like Banhammer are not able to log and ban requests dynamically. Fortunately, some of the most popular caching plugins provide settings that enable full compatibility with Banhammer. For a complete list, check out this article. Note: that article was written for Blackhole Pro, but the compatibility list and general info apply also to Banhammer.
Use Banhammer
Banhammer enables you to monitor traffic and ban any user or bot. To view your site's traffic, visit the Armory. There you can ban or warn (flag) anything you wish. Once you have banned something, it will be locked in the Tower, where you can manage all banned users and bots.
Banhammer is designed to be as intuitive as possible, and provides complete documentation via the Help tab on any Banhammer screen. There are three plugin screens:
- Settings – configure options
- Armory – monitor site traffic
- Tower – manage banned visitors
So after configuring options, visit the Armory to monitor site traffic. If you see a visitor that should be banned, click the hammer button to ban them immediately. Or, if you just want to keep an eye on someone, click the horn button to issue a warning. After banning or warning your target, you can visit the Tower to manage as desired. There you can ban, warn, restore, or delete any target with a click.
For complete documentation, visit the Help tab of any Banhammer screen. If anything is unclear or if you find a bug, you can drop a line via my contact form.
With great power..
Please be careful not to ban any important IP addresses. Before banning some target, verify the IP and host name. Verifying the IP address is important because you do not want to accidentally ban major search engines and services. A good way to verify any IP address is to do a reverse lookup. The result should match the host name. For an example of how to verify a bot, check out this article at Perishable Press.
Pro Tip: In the Armory, you can click on the IP Address or Host Name to do a quick whois lookup.
Important! Don't ban yourself!
Please be careful not to ban yourself when using Banhammer. The Basic Settings are powerful; use them wisely. Here are some things that can help mitigate any accidents:
- Be mindful when monitoring traffic; always know your own IP address and WP username.
- Disable the setting "Login Page", so you always have access to the Login Page.
- Enable the setting "Ignore Users", so you always can access the Tower, and your own visits will not be logged in the Armory.
Whoops! How do I get back in?
It's almost inevitable. Worst-case scenario say you accidentally ban yourself. As site admin, it is easy to restore access. Follow these steps:
- Download the Banhammer Unlock plugin
- Upload the Unlock plugin to your server at:
- If the mu-plugins directory does not exist, go ahead and create it
- After uploading the plugin, Banhammer will be disabled, so you can log in and restore access via the Tower
- Once you have restored access, delete the Banhammer Unlock plugin from the server
- After deleting the Unlock plugin, Banhammer once again will be enabled
Alternately, if you banned yourself by IP address, you can bypass the ban by using a trustworthy proxy service to log in to your site.
How do you know if the plugin is working? Like if you want to customize the banned response? Well, there are several ways to go about it.
Method One (easiest): Configure the following Banhammer settings:
- Enable Plugin – enable
- Ignore Users – disable
- Login Page – disable
- Admin Area – disable
After saving the changes, you will be able to ban your own visits to the front-end (non-admin) pages on your site, without actually banning yourself from the Admin Area or Login Page. Just remember to restore access via the Tower when you are finished testing.
Method Two (moderate): Create a new WordPress user and log in using a second browser. Then as you surf around the site, you can monitor and ban the user via the first browser.
Method Three (advanced): Open two browser tabs. Tab 1 is the Armory. Tab 2 is a good proxy service. With Banhammer enabled, visit your site's homepage via proxy. Then jump over to the Armory and ban the proxy IP address. Then retry the proxy visit to the homepage; it should be denied access. Remember to restore access or delete the banned IP via the Tower when finished testing.
Manually Add IP Address
If you want to ban some IP that has not yet visited your site, you can do so by entering the following URL in your browser's address bar:
Replace the following:
- Replace [KEY] with your "Target Key"
- Replace [IP] with the IP you want to block
- Replace
with your own domain
Note: You can find your Target Key in Banhammer Advanced settings.
For more info about adding targets, visit the Help tab on the Settings page.
Important! Never share your Target Key, always keep it secret.
Auto-Clear Data
To prevent collected data from filling up the database, Banhammer automatically clears all Armory data at regular intervals. By default, the interval is 24 hours. So every 24 hours, the Armory data will be flushed, and fresh data will be collected. Of course, any banned targets will remain banned and available in the Tower. To change the auto-clear interval, check out the "Reset Armory" setting. Visit the Armory Help tab for more details.
Performance Tip!
The first time a logged entry is displayed in the Armory, additional data are fetched behind the scenes. So as you navigate pages, you may notice that pages containing new entries take a bit more time to load. Subsequent views should be nice and speedy via Ajax. So with that in mind, it is optimal for performance to keep the number of items per page to a minimum. Try to keep it anywhere under 10 or so and you should be good. To change the number of entries displayed per page, click "Tools" and go to "Display [x] rows".
Basic View vs. Advanced View
Under the Tools menu you can toggle between "Basic view" and "Advanced view". Basic view gives you a streamlined summary. Advanced view gives you complete data for each entry. Note that you can toggle each entry individually between Basic and Advanced. So for example, you can monitor traffic in Basic view, and then toggle open (double-click) any entry that may need banning. The default is Advanced view.
Sound Effects!
Banhammer sound effects can be enabled by clicking "Tools" and then "Enable sound fx". When enabled, the sounds will be played whenever an action button is clicked. This includes the Ban, Warn, Restore, and Delete buttons. The Armory provides Ban and Warn buttons. The Tower provides all four. Note that enabling sound fx in the Armory applies to the Tower as well.
Note that the sound effects are a work in progress. Finding quality open source audio is challenging. If you are able to contribute better effects, please let me know. And of course, the sound effects can be disabled entirely by clicking "Disable sound fx".
License for Sound Effects
Audio used in plugin
- Explosion sound by steveygos93: Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
- Inception Horn sound by Kubatko: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
- Shield Guard sound by nekoninja: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
- Lettuce Chopping sound by danloss: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
Audio used in promos
- War Drum Loop by limetoe: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
- Warrior Drums by Sclolex: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
This plugin cleans up after itself. All plugin options and collected data will be removed from your database when the plugin is uninstalled via the Plugins screen.
Like the plugin?
If you like Banhammer, please take a moment to give a 5-star rating. It helps to keep development and support going strong. Thank you!
How is this different than the other "Ban Hammer" plugin?
The plugin Ban Hammer by Mika Epstein (Ipstenu) is the original "ban-hammer" plugin. It is a great plugin that prevents unwanted users from registering with your site. My plugin Banhammer monitors traffic and enables you to ban any unwanted WP users or IP addresses. They are similar in effect, but focus on different aspects of site access. Btw, huge Thank You to Mika for being so awesome with sharing the "ban hammer" space 🙂
Will this plugin slow down my site?
No, Banhammer is developed with a focus on performance, so your site will be as fast as possible. For example, Banhammer does all of its "heavy lifting" of data only when the admin is viewing the Armory, so normal site traffic remains as fast as possible. This is why the first pass thru the Armory data can take a second or two longer than subsequent passes; Banhammer is looking up Geo/IP information, hostname information, and also performing other important tasks only when the admin is viewing the Armory.
I can't change the Row Limit setting?
To change the Row Limit, enter a number and then press the Enter key on your keyboard. For more information about Row Limits, click the Help tab on the plugin settings page.
What are Protect Login Page and Admin Area options?
In the Banhammer settings, there are two options:
- Login Page – Protect WP Login Page
- Admin Area – Protect WP Admin Area
When enabled these options tell Banhammer to include the Login Page and Admin Area, respectively. It means that Banhammer will monitor requests made to the Login Page and Admin Area, and block anything that you've told it to block. Otherwise only the frontend pages are protected. Conversely, when these options are disabled, Banhammer will ignore the Login Page and/or Admin Area.
Further explanation: with WordPress, there is the frontend (like homepage, posts and pages, etc.). Then there also are all the admin-related pages, commonly referred to as the Admin Area. This is what is covered by the "Admin Area" option. Likewise with the Login Page, located at
, that is what the "Login Page" option refers to. -
Got a question?
Send any questions or feedback via my contact form
Contributors & Developers
"Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate "Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots" into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
If you like Banhammer, please take a moment to give a 5-star rating. It helps to keep development and support going strong. Thank you!
3.4.1 (2023/10/26)
- Updates default translation template
- Updates custom banner notice
- Tests on WordPress 6.4 (beta)
3.4 (2023/07/17)
- Improves plugin CSS styles
- Improves localization function
- Fixes some incorrect translation domains
- Updates default translation template
- Adds custom notice on settings page
- Tests on WordPress 6.3 (beta)
3.3 (2023/04/25)
- Removes filter hook
- Tests on WordPress 6.2
3.2.1 (2023/03/11)
- Adds fallback for
- Tests on WordPress 6.2 (beta)
3.2 (2023/03/03)
- Improves logic for dates and times
- Improves logic for
- Improves logic when calling
- Adds note about
filter hook - Generates new translation template
- Tests on WordPress 6.1 + 6.2 (beta)
- Tests on PHP 8.1 and 8.2
3.1 (2022/10/14)
- Fixes bug with date formatting in Tower
- Improves Banhammer core functionality
- Removes
functionality - Removes function
- Resolves
log entries - Fixes bug: PHP Uncaught TypeError: count()
- Adjusts all timeouts for optimal performance
- Improves UI/details of Banhammer settings
- Updates translation template
- Tweaks custom footer text
- Tests on WordPress 6.1
3.0.1 (2022/10/08)
- Increases timeout for
- Increases timeout for
- Adds filter hook
- Adds filter hook
- Adds filter hook
- Adds filter hook
- Tests on WordPress 6.1
3.0 (2022/10/01)
- Adds "Show Support" link to plugin settings
- Adds custom footer text to plugin settings
- Improves contextual help information
- Improves plugin documentation
- Updates translation template
- Tests on WordPress 6.1
2.9 (2022/05/17)
- Tests on WordPress 6.0
2.8.2 (2022/03/24)
- Resolves "Call to a member function options() on null" (WP-CLI)
- Tests on WordPress 5.9
2.8.1 (2022/01/31)
- Fixes bug with PHP
- Tests on WordPress 5.9
2.8 (2022/01/18)
- Improves loading of translations
- Improves performance on plugin settings
- Updates some links to external resources
- Changes minimum required WP version to 4.6
- Tests on WordPress 5.9
2.7 (2021/07/17)
- Fixes bug with
requests in Armory - Improves functionality of
- Tests on WordPress 5.8
2.6 (2021/02/10)
- Changes GeoIP lookup service
- Improves performance of IP functionality (Thanks @danielrufde)
- Tests on WordPress 5.7
2.5 (2020/11/15)
- Appends version number query string to scripts and styles
- Updates plugin script to account for changes in jQuery UI
- Fixes bug w/
(Thanks John Blackbourn and @holisticmissions) - Tests on PHP 7.4 and 8.0
- Tests on WordPress 5.6
2.4 (2020/08/09)
- Tweaks the plugin settings page
- Refines readme/documentation
- Tests on WordPress 5.5
2.3 (2020/03/19)
- Fixes bug: PHP Warning:
must be an array - Adds French translation (thanks to Hervé Bouzin)
- Tests on WordPress 5.4
2.2 (2019/11/08)
- Updates styles for plugin settings page
- Tests on WordPress 5.3
2.1 (2019/09/02)
- Changes default number of rows
- Increases maximum row display to 10
- Improves UX for max-row setting
- Improves error logging functionality
- Updates some Help tab infos
- Updates some links to https
- Generates new default translation template
- Tests on WordPress 5.3 (alpha)
2.0 (2019/05/01)
- Bumps minimum PHP version to 5.6.20
- Updates default translation template
- Tests on WordPress 5.2
1.9 (2019/04/08)
- Limits Armory rows to 5 (see Notes in Armory Help tab for details)
- Works on improving GeoIP lookup timeouts and issues
- Fixes bug with updating plugins using CLI
- Generates new default translation template
1.8 (2019/04/02)
- Fixes bug with GeoIP lookups timing out (503/504 errors)
- Removes a conflicting CSS rule in the plugin settings
- Tests on WordPress 5.1 and 5.2 (alpha)
1.7 (2019/03/11)
- Replaces
for GeoIP lookups - Improves function
- Refines plugin settings screen UI
- Generates new default translation template
- Tests on WordPress 5.1 and 5.2 (alpha)
1.6 (2019/02/20)
- Just a version bump for compat with WP 5.1
- Full update coming soon 🙂
1.5.1 (2018/11/18)
- Fixes bug with
query args - Replaces
lookup service withipapi.co
- Tests on WordPress 5.0 (beta)
1.5 (2018/11/16)
- Adds homepage link to Plugins screen
- Updates default translation template
- Tests on WordPress 5.0 (beta)
1.4 (2018/08/20)
- Replaces
for Geo Lookups - Adds
rel="noopener noreferrer"
to all blank-target links - Updates
to check!is_int
- Updates
to support older versions of PHP - Updates contextual Help tab with better infos
- Updates GDPR blurb and donate link
- Regenerates default translation template
- Further tests on WP versions 4.9 and 5.0 (alpha)
1.3 (2018/05/08)
- Adds feature to manually add targets (see Installation notes)
- Renames
class and variable toBanhammerWP
- Strengthens security protocols in Banhammer core
- Improves support for caching plugins
- Adds sound effects for delete all and bulk delete in Armory
- Adds function to check for pro version of Banhammer
- Adds pro link to plugin on WP Plugins page
- Updates information provided in the Help tabs
- Replaces
- Changes some
else if
in PHP code - Changes default number of Armory rows to 3
- Changes "Previous" to "Prev" on nav button
- Generates new translation template
- Tweaks some styles in various places
- Tweaks some text in various places
- Updates plugin image files
- Tests on WordPress 5.0 (alpha)
1.2 (2018/01/19)
- Adds filter hook
- Tweaks some CSS in the Armory
- Tests on WP 5.0 (alpha)
1.1 (2018/01/18)
- Preps plugin for WP Plugin Directory
- Changes
- Removes unused file,
- Updates some Help tab information
- Tests on WP 5.0 (alpha)
1.0 (2018/01/11)
- Initial release


text:
There is an A in it. There is not an E in it.
Duel means 1v1 PvP. Dual means two. I realize that 1+1=2, but that's not the point.
Thank you. This has been a public service message; making your community a little better.
P.S. dual,
3 comments:
- Kiryn said...
Why is it that people always want to "dual" each other, but then keep talking about "duel" specs? They apparently know that there are two different words, but seem to just use them at random whenever they feel like it. This annoys the hell out of me as well.
- April 17, 2009 at 5:35 PM
- Anonymous said...
lol. the first time I realized this was when I was adding a blog post tag. I wrote up to duel and the image of dueling in front of IF / Org came to my mind. It was my ah ha! moment of learning how to spell.
- April 18, 2009 at 8:59 PM
- Shwitz44 said...
My name is Josh and I fully support this message.
In addition, "roll" is what you do when you create a character. It harkens back to when dice were physically rolled to set character sheet stats in D&D.
"Role" is the function a character has in a group - tank, DPS, healer, CC, etc.
Know your role, and know the difference. - April 20, 2009 at 9:16 AM
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text: Simon The Sorcerer II (PC) Walkthrough By Loopy ([email protected]) ================================================================== Version V1.2 This walkthru will detail in some depth the steps you need to take to clock the game. Be warned, I have been known to write in great detail so that this walkthru will be very long. Walkthrough ----------- (BTW, To skip the intro, press F5.) Simon meets Calypso and Alix and after the discussion, it can be learnt that, to get Simon back to his original world, he needs to find the Mucusade. Once you get control, go back inside and pick up the Baseball Bat (next to the cupboard), Dye (on the shelf to the right of the screen) and, if you want to, hurl a few insults at Alix while you're there. Once done, leave the Magic Shop and head north (this is known as "leaving the scene" and I'll be using this phrase a lot throughout this walkthru, so make sure you get used to it.) Go to the Town Square and talk to the Dancers. Simon will decide to watch for a bit. After a while, one of the Dancers' sticks will break. Give the Baseball Bat to the Dancers and watch the EXTREMELY painful scene. If you're a female, you probably won't feel the pain as much (and I'm not being sexist - honest!) Leave the scene by going east and head to the Castle. Try to get in and find out that you're going to have to bribe the guards before you can get in. They'll explain the currency and here's what they say: 1 Dollar = 256 pence 16 Pence = 1 Grout 64 Pence = 1 Crown 2 Crown = 1 Queen's Shilling 3 Crown = 1 King's Shilling 5 Dollar = 1 Silver Sovereign 3 Silver Sovereign = 1 Gold Sovereign 45 Dollar = 1 Royal Crest Now, go to the Street of Traders, pick up the Poster for the Dance Instructor and talk to the Ironmonger until he asks for help filling in his Tax Return. Using the information the guards of the castle gave you, answer his questions and give him the answers. Or, if you can't be bothered to use your head, here they are: 1. 1 Gold Sovereign = 3 Silver Sovereigns = 3x5 Dollars = 15 Dollars 2. 16 Grout = 16x16 Pence = 256 Pence = 1 Dollar 3. 1 Gold Sovereign = 15 Dollars. Now since 45 Dollars = 1 Royal Crest, this means that there are 3 Gold Sovereigns (3x15) in 1 Royal Crest After you're done, he gives you a Left-Handed Crowbar. Go to the Pier. Here, depending on which side of the Pier you chose, you can see either Um Bongo or Goldilocks (hiding behind some Crates.) If you see Um Bongo, give him the Poster you picked up from the Street of Traders and move west to see Goldilocks (she peeks her head from behind the Crates every so often. Talk to her when you see her head.) If you see Goldilocks, talk to her. Ask why she's still here. She'll explain that she's trying to get away from the Three Bears and can't open the Crate. Use the Crowbar on the Crate. She'll get in and leave behind an Inflatable Rubber Boat and her Wig (try wearing the Wig, just for fun.) Pick both up. Go and see Um Bongo if you haven't already done so. Once you've spoken to both Goldilocks and Um Bongo, exit east or west (it doesn't matter which way, as long as you leave the scene.) Right, next, the Three Bears house. Go there, open up the Letter Box and take the Letter that's inside. Remember, you can't get in because the security is way too strong. We're going to have to find another way in. Go to the Loan Office and take out a loan (it doesn't matter which.) When prompted, open the Manager's Door and go inside. When he dives under his desk to look for the paperwork, quickly put the Three Bears' Letter on his Inbox. Now, leave and watch the scene. The Three Bears' house gets bombed. Go there and now you can enter. Go inside, head for the kitchen (east) and pick up the Rubber Gloves and turn off the tap -- make sure you turn off the tap LAST. The bears arrive home and Simon hides in the chimney. They light the fire and he pops out like a Champagne cork, landing at the Fountain. Leave west and head back to the Three Bears house. Hand over the Goldilocks wig and pick up the porridge. Next, the Tattooist. Head there. You'll find it shut. Move the Ladder so it comes down and climb up it. Open the door and enter. Talk to the Saucepan Man. The Fish Man gives you a Pad and Pen -- the Saucepan Man's taken a vow of deafness. Use the Pad when you want to talk to SPM. It turns out that there's a vacancy for a Porridge Wearer. Wear the Porridge and SPM will give you a membership pack. Look at it to get all the stuff inside. (BTW: After this, Simon will NOT wear the Porridge again.) Okay, next place: MucSwamplings. Simon will chat with the Swampling -- who doesn't happen to be the real one. Chat with the fake Swampling further, get the Balloon and Voucher. Now enter the building. Talk to the Tattooist and the Anorak and use the Voucher with the Waiter at the counter to get the Kiddie Meal. Look inside to get the contents. Now leave. Note that the Tattooist said he wasn't going to return to work until the clock said 2 O'Clock. Head back to the Street of Traders and head into the Joke Shop. Keep re-entering and talking until you can ask him to make you a Swampling costume (you'll give him the model of the Swampling that you got from the MucSwampling Kiddie Meal.) He'll tell you that he can make you the costume, provided that you can get him some Green Cloth. Leave and talk to the Fat Bloke. He'll sell you some Cloth on condition you find him a Lamp in an underground passage. Easy enough. Head to the end and pick up a Lamp. You'll find the right one later. Head back and talk to the hole where you entered. The Ladder will drop. Climb it and you'll get the Cloth -- but it's white, not black. Problem. We'll sort this out later on. Head to the Magic Competition and sign up. Go inside and talk to all of the magicians. Hmmm. Seems like tough competition. Better narrow it down. Talk to the guy with the ear trumpet (he's on the left of the room.) Use the Swamp Shake on him and you'll tip half of it down his ear trumpet (eeww!) He won't be able to hear a thing now! Try to use the Dye (from Calypso's shop) with the cloth and Simon explains you need to use the dye with some water first. Head to the Fountain and use the Dye there. The entire Fountain will start spewing green water. Put the Cloth next to the Washing Lady's Basket and wait for her to wash it, dying it green in the process. (It's weird that they don't seem to notice the change in colour of the cloth.) Take the Cloth back to the Joke Shop on the Street of Traders. Give it the Joke Man and get your Swampling Outfit. Pick up the Joke Book on your way out (make sure the owner's got the mask on or he'll see you.) Head next door to the Pet Shop. All the animals here are the results of two animals being genetically combined. Use the Rubber Gloves on the Turtle (?) in the cage on the right of the shop. If you don't, Simon will get a nasty electric shock (the Turtle has been combined with a group of Electric Eels.) Make sure you try picking up the Turtle without the Gloves first. Put the Turtle in the end (one )cage of the Machine (which can split or combine animals) and push the Lever to the left. Start the Machine (Green Button) to split the Turtle into a Turtle and some Electric Eels. Pick up the Turtle (no more electric shocks this time) and the Glow-Worms and put the Worms into the Cage where you took the Turtle out of. Push the lever into the other direction and start up the Machine again. You'll find some super-charged Glow-Worms. The owner comes out and lets you keep the Worms. Head to MucSwamplings and enter. Wear the Swampling costume and you'll head out back, into the Kitchen. Go upstairs and you'll find the real Swampling. Talk to him and agree to get him some Swamp Mud. He'll give you a Bucket for the Mud. Leave MucSwamplings and go to the Swamp. You'll end up near the Loan Office -- you can't get any closer. Talk to the Jester and give him the Joke Book. He'll give you the bladder in return. Nearby, there's a drain cover. Use the Crowbar to open it. Inside, is a Giant Spider so we need to flush it out, but where are we going to get so much water? Ah-ha! Um Bongo's Rain Dance! Head to the Town Square and give him the Bladder. He'll start up his Rain Dance and Simon will get soaked. Head back to the Loan Office and climb down into the Sewers. The Spider will be gone now. Head left until it goes pitch black. Use the super-charged Glow-Worms to see in the dark. Keep going left until you find a Ladder. You'll also find the Spider -- not that it's going to be a problem anymore. Climb up the ladder. This is the Swamp. Now, to get Swampy's Swamp Mud. Head right as far as you can go and use the Bungee Rope with the Railings nearby and Simon will tie himself up. Next, use the Bucket with the Mud to get a sample. Leave via the Sewers. Leave the Loan Office scene and head for MucSwampling. Enter and wear the costume again. Go upstairs and talk to the Swampling. He'll give you some Swamp Stew (not again...) Leave MucSwamplings and head for the Street of Traders. Go into the Joke Seller's shop and give him the Stew. He'll make a Stink Bomb and give it to you. Now, to eliminate the Magic Competition opponents. Head to the Magic Competition tent, go inside and use your brand new Stink Bomb. Re-enter the tent. All but one will remain, the deaf one. Pick up the Spell Book. Since we've already eliminated the remaining wizard (he can't hear anything, remember?) Simon's the only one left so he wins and gets the Wizard ID. Head to the castle and show the ID to the Door Guard who'll let you in. Inside, you have an argument with the Prince. Once the argument is over, open and enter the castle door. Head left and you'll speak with the King who asks Simon to go to the Nursery and make the Baby sleep. Sound easy? Not really... To make the Baby sleep, we'll need to do several things. First, leave the Throne Room and pick up the Cymbals. Open up the two doors and go in. The one on the left has the Sleeping Princess -- we'll deal with her later on. The one on the right has the Baby we need to shut up. In this room, pick up the Klaxon and the Football Rattle (both on the floor, near the cradle.) Use the Wedge on the cradle to ll stop it from rocking. Pick up the Cog from the wall. Leave the room, head right, right, leave the scene and head for MucSwamplings. Here, go round back by heading left. Examine the Dustbin here for a Fishing Rod. Enter and Wear the Swampling Costume like before. Here, use the Cog you picked up on the back end of the Clock on the wall and it'll start working again. Leave the back room and you'll notice that the Tattooist has gone. Go to the Tattooist's parlour and enter. Talk to the Tattooist and pick up the leaflet on your way out. Head back to MucSwamplings and give the leaflet to the Anorak Guy (you don't need to wear the Costume this time.) Head to the Tattooist's again and go in again. You'll be the 1000th customer and be entitled for a free tattoo. Opt for the "Crown and Swords" one. Head for the Swamp now and go all the way left (we went right last time to pick up the Swamp Mud.) Talk to the Lady of The Lake. Use the Fishing Rod with the Lake to get a Fish (you'll use the Maggot automatically.) Head to the Castle, go in, and go left all the way to get to the Throne Room. Here, use the Fish on the Royal Seal. Make your way out (left, right all the way then south) and head back to the Swamp. Talk to the Lady again and you'll show her the Royal Seal. She'll take off her gear and leave it behind. Pick up all her gear and use the Air Tank on the Rubber Dinghy to inflate it. Use the Dinghy to cross the lake. Walk right and up to the Sword. Pick it up (which should be no problem, since you've got that tattoo...) Head left, use the Dinghy to cross the lake again. Now go right and head back to the Castle. Enter and give the Prince the Sword. He'll trade his Peashooter and Pea for it. Go left, into the left room (the one with the Sleeping Princess) and use the Pea on the Mattresses. The Princess will wake up. Talk to her about the Baby and she'll give you a Lolly. Go into the Baby's room and give the Lolly on the Baby -- who'll promptly throw it out of the window. Leave the room, go right and pick up the Lolly. Head right and down and make your way to MucSwamplings. Enter, wear the Costume, go up and talk to Swampy. Ask him about his life and kids and talk to the kids. Give the the Lolly and they'll drop a bottle of Milk which Simon picks up. Go left, down, right, leave the scene and head back to the Castle. Go up, left, into the right-hand room and give the Milk to the Baby -- who promptly shuts up (finally!) After silencing the baby, we now have the day off. Head out of the Baby's Room and go left into the Throne Room. Go right until you reach the King. There's a door above him. Enter it. You'll go up some spiral steps. Exit right and walk past the Pentagram. You'll meet the two Demons you sent back to Hell in the first Simon game (near the end of the game.) Talk to them and they'll knock you back down the steps. Climb back up, use the Swamp Shake on the Pentagram (you've still got half left, remember?) and they'll appear again. This time, they'll get stuck -- severely stuck (this scene completely cracks me up each time I watch it.) Head downstairs, go left out of the Throne Room, right all the way and down to leave the scene. Now head for the Street of Traders. Use the Balloon (from the MucSwamplings Mascot) on the railings just to the left of where you entered the scene. Simon will tie the balloon up. Head to MucSwamplings, talk to the Mascot and get another balloon. Tie this one to the Railings. Repeat again so that you've got three balloons tied up to the Railings. Simon will be lifted by the three balloons and end up at the top of one of the Castle's towers. In the tower, walk onto the rug, drop down and pick up the Mucusade (it's got the Radioactive symbol on it.) Head into the tube on the right of the screen to go back to the room with the rug. Head through the window and Simon'll be dropped out of the sky by a bird. Leave the scene and head to Calypso's. Here, watch the scene and you'll find yourself on a Pirate Ship. We need to get off here and get the Mucusade back! First, to get rid of these damned chains. Use the Spell Book and pick up the Skull next to Simon and you'll get an Eye Patch. Next, try to go upstairs. After the scene, you'll end up in the Captain's Cabin. Look at the Diary from the table behind you and you'll get the Post Card. There are 3 stuffed Parrots in here (on the shelf to the right of the screen.) Pick up one and leave by going left. Next, open the door behind you (not the one you came out of, but the other one.) You'll see someone sleeping in a hammock. There's a knife here (at the foot-end of the hammock.) Pick it up and use it on the Hammock. The guy falls, but stays asleep -- weird. Above the fallen guy is a Tinder Box. Pick it up and leave the room. Talk to the guy with the Shades and trade your Eye Patch for the Shades. Go left to the next screen and push the Pirate that's repairing the ship. He'll end up overboard. Pick up the Hammer the Pirate was using (Simon will pick up the Nails as well) and the Plank as well. To the left is a door. Open it and you'll find yourself back in the place where you first found yourself on the ship. Talk to the Tough Looking Guy. Ask if he has a Welding Torch. Head up the stairs and to the right. Use the Torch on the Chain on deck. The Cap'n will come out and stop you. Use the plank on the door the Cap'n came out of and use the Torch on the Chain again. This time, the Cap'n can't stop you. Open the door and Simon will go down. Pick up the Mucusade and head back up again. Head left and climb up the Rigging to the left of the main central mast. You'll end up at the Crow's Nest. Use the Diary's Post Card you picked up on the Telescope in front of the sleeping Nest Boy and come back down. Head to the right of the ship, climb the ladder and talk to the Pirate there. Use the Stuffed Parrot (the one you picked up) with the real Parrot. Now use the Swamp Gum on the Stuffed Parrot to make it stick. Head left and watch the scene. When Simon revives on the beach, the only thing you've got is the Save/Load Post Card -- nothing else (damn.) What we need to do here is pick up the Mucusade (again) and return to Calypso's. So, to begin with, pick up the Shovel and go right. Pick up the Towel (and see that the guy has got our Mucusade.) Talk to the guy with the Mucusade. Head into the Jungle. Remember that kid? We spotted him at MucSwamplings a while ago. Give the Balloon to the Kid -- WITHOUT PICKING IT UP FIRST! You'll get a Shell in return. Pick up the Wooden Pole here and go right, back to the Beach. Combine the Shovel and the Pole and use the Shovel. Simon will create a Sand Castle. Now, use the Towel on the Hole you made whilst making the Sand Castle and use the Shell with the Towel. Aha! A trap! Go right and talk to the kid again. He'll fall into the trap. Pick up the Mucusade from his stuff, watch the "Devils & Angels" scene and head into the Jungle again. Inside the Jungle, go to the top-left and you'll find a Fierce Dog. Pick it up (carefully) and continue left, enter the Cafe and talk to the waitress. Get a free coffee and fall asleep. Get another cup -- which you'll keep for later. Exit the coffee shop, click on the path below you and you'll walk all the way round. Exit left. Talk to the Dealer here and ask him "How's it hanging?" then "Got any salmon?" and then pick up the Whistle from the ground. Head north further into the Jungle and you'll see a guy tied up on what looks like a rack. We'll come back later. Go left and use the Dog on the Generator. Now, go right and pull the lever. Now, use the Whistle and watch happens... Talk about torture! Now, head right, go down the path heading left and talk to the Judge. You're going to take part in a Limbo Contest. How are we going to go that far down? Cheat, that's how. Use the Whistle and you'll get three Bungas (that's the local currency.) Go right and talk to the Dealer. You'll end up with some Caffeine Tablets. Combine the tablets with the Coffee. Go right, right and enter the Cave -- it's below the Giant Sign. Try to pick up the Bottle and talk to the Genie. Keep talking until you've used up all dialogue options. Use the laced Coffee with the Bottle and try to pick it up again. This time, wish to be returned to Calypso's. Remember a while ago, Calypso and Alix were being harrassed by those two Demons? Well, enter the shop and watch the scene. After the scene, Simon will be in the same cell as Alix. Talk to her to find out a few... uhm, things. Open the door on the right of the cell. Alix will help by giving you a Hair Pin. Simon will leave and you'll find Runt (from the intro) chasing... Another Simon? This Simon uses a branch of some sort and teleports you out of the Goblin Camp. From here, go right to leave the scene (like before, in the old world.) Head for the Dark Woods. In Dark Woods, you'll find the little kid you saw at MucSwamplings and at the beach. Walk all the way to the right and enter the Cave. You'll step on a Cat (who runs out of the door.) You'll meet the three Witches -- each with some part of their anatomy missing. We'll meet them again later on. Leave the house, go all the way to the left and make your way to the Secluded Hut. Close the door, pick up the Hanky and three Soda bottles. The Cat you stepped on earlier on runs into the door when you approach it. Pick it up (it's been knocked out.) Leave the scene and head for the Volcano Rim. Pick up the Chemical Spray and the Plant Spotter's Guide Book. Use the Cat with the Plants -- who'll promptly drool their saliva all over the ground (guess they weren't taught any manners...) Use the Drinking Straw with one of the Soda Bottles to empty it and use the empty Bottle on the Saliva. Now, leave the scene and head for the Goblin Camp. Use the Saliva you just picked up with one of the Guard's Goblets (either one, it doesn't matter which.) Now, try to enter the Camp. You'll knock out the two Goblins. Pick up the Conch Horn (it's on the right-hand side of the entrance) and enter the camp. Go into the Big Tent and pick up both the Pepper and the Food Rations inside. Exit and talk to the Elf in the cage and you'll get a Bottle of Perfume -- which is empty. Again, we're going to cheat. Use the Pepper with the Elf and then give the Hanky to the Elf (you've got to be quite quick.) Combine the Soda bottle and the Perfume Bottle and give this back to the Elf. Next step, go left and use the Bottle of Soda on the Fire here. Now, be quick and pick up the Stuff in front of the big Demon. The two Demons will fight. Make your way out of the Camp, leave the scene and head for the Secluded Hut. Here, again pick up three Soda Bottles and make your way to the Dark Woods again. Give the Soda and Food Rations to the kid, watch his belly inflate (hmm, must have been dehydrated food rations) and pick up the Magnifying Glass. Head right and have a look at the Antiques on sale. You'll meet a group of Woodworm -- not the ones from Simon 1, though. These guys have more of an attitude than the previous ones. Talk to them and give them the wood from the Elf when prompted. You'll get a set of Wooden False Teeth. Go right all the way and into the cave with the three Witches. Give the Teeth to the Witch on the left, the Conch Horn to the one in the middle and the Magnifying Glass to the one on the right. Watch the scene. Use the Drinking Straw with a Soda Bottle to empty another bottle and use it with the Potion to get a sample. Leave the Witches' House and head left until you leave the scene. Head for the Secluded Hut again. Here, use the Potion on the Role Players. Play with the remainders and use your own Dice (the one you picked up in the Camp) when the option appears. You'll get a Catalogue. Leave the Hut and go to the Goblin Camp. Go left until you pass under the rib-cage of a giant skeleton. You'll find a large door and two of the Demons that kidnapped Alix. Walk up to the door and tell them "Are you threatening me?" and then "I'm here on important business." Simon will pretend to be the Decorator and show the Demons the Catalogue he picked up from the Role Players. They will let you in. Inside the castle, go north into the Eerie Passage and talk to the monster. Once done, Simon will leave. Pick up the Tapestry from the wall on the right of the screen. On the left is a stairway, go down it. You'll find a goblin running, generating the electricity for the castle. Use the Tapestry on the Sweat underneath the Demon and then use it with the Chemical Sprayer. The Spray Can will now contain the Goblin Sweat. There's lever just above eye- level on the screen. Move it. You're completely blind now, but don't worry, if you can, crank up the Brightness and Contrast knobs on your monitor. If you don't have any Brightness/Contrast knobs (like me), don't worry, just do as I say. Click on the right edge of the screen and then in the middle of the screen (Eerie Passage.) You'll be in the same room as before -- the room with the big monster. Don't move yet. Now the tricky part. First, use the Chemical Sprayer to make Simon smell like a Goblin. Next, wear the Puppy (yes, WEAR the Puppy. Simon will turn them into slippers. Hehehe... Hush Puppies!) Wear them again and Simon will make his way past the monster (not that you can see this, of course.) Okay, we're nearly there. Walk to the left of the screen and Simon will make his way to the top of the Tower. Here, Simon explains that previously, he saved himself so to make sure he stays alive, he must go and save himself so he needs to find the Time Stick -- that branch the other Simon used on him. On the screen to the right of this screen is a Screw Driver. Pick it up (it's near the Case and the Palm Reader.) Use the Screw Driver with Sordid's Hand (it's on that machine which is sitting on all the smoke.) Use Sordid's Hand on the Palm Reader and pick up the Time Stick. Now, we need to find the past Simon. Walk left and watch the closing scene.... So, will Simon get his body back? Who knows? Will Simon 3D tell the answer? I don't know. We'll have to wait and see... If you want to write a FAQ/Walkthru for Simon 3D when it comes out, let me know. I'd like to hear about it! TTTTTT HH HH EEEEEE EEEEEE NNN NN DDDDD TT HH HH EE EE NNNN NN DD DD TT HHHHHH EEEEEE EEEEEE NN NN NN DD DD TT HH HH EE EE NN NNNN DD DD TT HH HH EEEEEE EEEEEE NN NNN DDDDD **************************************************************************** FAQ (C) Loopy ([email protected]) All other (C) Copyrights Acknowledged **************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************


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The Museum of the City of New York is sponsoring an exhibit titled "Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future." The exhibit is open to the public now until January 10, 2010.
Saarinen, who left Finland in 1923, became one of America's greatest modernist architects. Saarinen's work includes the well-known Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, the Trans World Airlines Terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and the Dulles International Airport Terminal in Chantilly, Virginia. Some of his other equally fascinating architectural examples include Case Study House #9 (designed with Charles Eames) in Pacific Palisades, California, the Kresge Auditorium and Chapel at MIT, the Irwin Miller House in Columbus, Indiana, Kramer Chapel in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center. This is only a partial list of Saarinen's architectural accomplishments.
Saarinen also made an indelible mark on modern furniture design. Saarinen's Womb chair and ottoman, and his Tulip chair variations remain favorites among modern collections worldwide.


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Darkfield Digital Image GalleryAurelia Ephyra-Stage JellyfishMembers of the jellyfish in the class Scyphozoa undergo a complex life cycle including a larval medusa or ephyra stage. The genus Aurelia demonstrates the typical life stages for this class of invertebrates, which also include the free-swimming planula, the stalked and tentacled schyphistoma polyp, the strobila bud, and the mature medusa stages. Between the dominant adult medusa stage and the small and inconspicuous larval polyp stage, Aurelia jellyfishes undergo the ephyra stage. The common and cosmopolitan moon jelly (A. aurita) is often used as a laboratory experimental and dissection model to illustrate the typical Aurelia life stages. Tiny ephyrae swim free of the sessile schyphistoma polyps. As a dispersal stage, the ephyra allows the jellyfish to spread to potential suitable habitats and prevents the placing of all offspring within one locality where they are subject to changes in environmental conditions and catastrophic events. In less than a year, the ephyrae mature sexually into medusas. Although not mature, most of the adult characteristics (except gonads) are present in the larval ephyra stage, but have different relative sizes. Most notably, the eight pairs of lappets are disproportionately large in comparison with adult jellyfish of the same species. While lappets are inconspicuous on adult Aurelia members, they dominate the ephyrae. Other body parts such as the manubrium and the arms are common to both larval ephyrae and mature medusas in the Scyphozoa species. The rhopalia are eight sensory organs that are evenly spaced around the fringe of the bell of both stages. Each rhopalium contains a statocyst for balance and sensing gravity and an ocellus for photoreception. In the adult stage, the large lappets of the ephyra are reduced to small, triangular sense organs located adjacent to the rhopalia. Contributing Authors Cynthia D. Kelly, Thomas J. Fellers and Michael W. Davidson - National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, 1800 East Paul Dirac Dr., The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32310. BACK TO THE DARKFIELD IMAGE GALLERY BACK TO THE DIGITAL IMAGE GALLERIES Questions or comments? Send us an email.© 1995-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.
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As we all know, choosing a therapy company is not a walk in the park. This might be because of their popularity. Since these companies have become common, they have increased in the market. Due to this, choosing the best company can be an overwhelming task. That is why you need to be cautious when choosing such a company. If you want to choose the best company, you should look at some things. Therefore, what you need to do is read the information below. You will get a chance to see the factors that you should consider when choosing a therapy company.
Among the factors, reputation is the first factor to consider when choosing a therapy company. This is arguably the most crucial factor to look at when choosing such a company. As we all know, reputation is the general opinions of people or something. Therefore, if you want to know a company's reputation, you need to listen to the general opinions of different individuals. What you need to do first is to identify the company you want to do business with. After that, you need to know the company's reputation. What you should do is ask around. You should ask some of your close friends, relatives, co-workers, and if possible some strangers that have hired such a company in the past.
You should ask them about the kind of services rendered by the company and their experience. If you find that most of them are happy with the services rendered, that shows the company is reputable and vice versa. A reputable Hippotherapy Indianapolis company will render quality services and ensure customers are always satisfied with their services. A reputable company will maintain full transparency with their clients. Another way to know a company's reputation is by checking the internet. On the internet, you will find the testimonials of past and present clients. A company with highly acclaimed testimonials shows that it is reputable and vice versa. If you are not happy with the results of the company, you should look for another company.
Aside from reputation, the education of the employees matters a lot. This is another factor that you should consider when choosing a therapy company. As the number of these companies increases so does the demand for employees. That is why it is essential to look at the education of the employees first before hiring the services of such a company. If you want to get quality services, you need to hire a company with qualified employees. Since most of the time you will be dealing with the employees, you need to ensure they are well educated. What you should do is look at the documents provided by the employees. You need to make sure the certificates are genuine. You should also make sure the employees have undergone the necessary training.
Besides the factors above, you need to look at the reviews of the company. You need to hire a company that has positive reviews because that shows it can be trusted and vice versa


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Hoyer Works the Deal
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's (Md.) role as the consummate deal-maker who can smooth over the vast differences in the Democratic Caucus has made him the go-to guy in recent weeks as President Barack Obama looks to pass his ambitious budget and health care plans.
Hoyer has the trust of the party's crucial moderate wing and played a key role behind the scenes in getting their support for Obama's budget, albeit with a few significant nods to their sensibilities.
"We've tried to thread the needle here and hopefully we have,— Hoyer said in an interview from his Capitol office on Friday.
"We had 15 or more meetings with various groups, chairmen and Members. It's been a pretty extensive involvement,— Hoyer said, adding that he personally met with the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition at least five times.
Although Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is the Caucus' ultimate arbiter, she and her one-time rival, Hoyer, have been working in tandem to stitch the liberal and moderate wings together.
"What the Speaker relies on me to do is give her an accurate reading on what the New Dems and Blue Dogs can and can't do,— he said, although he noted that both he and Pelosi speak directly to all the various groups.
"The good news is most Democrats agree with the president's priorities,— Hoyer said.
This is familiar territory for Hoyer, who has long worked quietly to forge intraparty compromises on tough issues. Last fall when two of his longtime allies, Reps. Henry Waxman (Calif.) and John Dingell (Mich.), squared off in a bitter battle over the Energy and Commerce gavel, Hoyer stepped in to try to broker a detente. He also finds himself — in addition to the budget and health care battles — in the middle of trying to work a deal on a controversial bill to give the District of Columbia voting representation in the House, a measure near to his heart but mired in a partisan feud over gun rights.
The 15-term Maryland Democrat helped the Blue Dogs get a $7 billion cut to Obama's spending plans, and, more importantly to the bloc, a commitment to pass statutory pay-as-you-go legislation intended to restrict future deficits. The Blue Dogs also won a commitment not to use fast-track budget rules to pass a controversial carbon cap-and-trade program. And moderates led by Hoyer also fended off efforts by the Congressional Progressive Caucus to slash defense spending — a cut that could prove politically disastrous in many swing districts.
Those concessions appear to be enough to get many of those moderates to sign on to the budget plan despite its record-setting debt and spending levels.
Hoyer said Blue Dogs have repeatedly shown their pragmatism, with many voting for last year's financial rescue package, this year's stimulus and omnibus spending bills and endorsing the $3-trillion-plus budget to be voted on this week.
"If you'd asked any of us a year ago if we were going to vote on these kinds of pieces of legislation, we would have said, Not on your life. These figures are just way out of control,'— Hoyer said. "The problem is we are confronted with a crisis of historic proportions. The Blue Dogs understand that.—
Hoyer has helped negotiate the Democratic spending blueprint in previous years with Budget Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.), but those budgets were of little consequence because Democrats were dealing with a Republican president who dismissed Democratic spending plans.
"Now this is the real deal,— Hoyer said. "We're shooting with real bullets.—
Hoyer also has emerged as the traffic cop of sorts on the volatile issue of health care reform, where he will coordinate between the various committee chairmen and even seek to reach a bipartisan compromise with his longtime Republican friend, Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.), who heads a GOP task force on the issue.
The duo, who forged a relationship when Blunt was the GOP's Whip, negotiated last year's deal on long-delayed domestic wiretapping legislation, one of a number of thorny issues that have landed on Hoyer's plate.
Health care is full of potential pitfalls, not the least of which is the delicate task of pushing a public health care option — or allowing participants to choose government-run insurance — strongly backed by Pelosi and the party's liberals, without losing the moderates.
Hoyer said Democrats, from Obama on down, are keen not to repeat the mistakes of 1993, when internal divisions sank health care reform, an energy tax and other pieces of President Bill Clinton's agenda, and led to an electoral drubbing a year later.
"It's not going to be a dictated result right from the beginning,— Hoyer said of this year's agenda, noting that Obama has embraced more of a bottom-up approach.
"We need to listen to everybody, sort of digest their views and try to get their views included so that when we ultimately come to a vote, it is acceptable to a broad [swath] of the Caucus,— Hoyer said.
"This business is a lot of listening.—


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In an article entitled "Human Morality: Innate or Learned" Rebekah Richards writes, "Morality, integrity, generosity, honor – these are concepts our society esteems, rewards, and expects. They are principles embodied by our cultural heroes, and values which we strive to develop in our children. But where do these qualities originate? Are we taught to be good, or do we possess innate virtue? Are we condemned to a constant battle against our 'lower nature'?"
Richards cites scientists and philosophers from the fifth century to the present day (all male, I might add; like Augustine of Hippo, Michal de Montaigne, Thomas Henry Huxley to name a few) who had in common the notion that humankind's goodness was just a veneer over a morality that was rotten and self-serving at its core. Some suggest that no act of "unsolicited pro-sociality" ("other-regarding preferences") can be characterized as wholly unselfish. There is always something to be gained from the act, they insist, even if it is only to "feel good".
At the other end of the spectrum of a similar prejudice, some anthropologists argue that morality and true altruism are qualities limited to humans as a result of learned behavior and cultural ethics. The inference here is that those qualities we may share with animals other than humans are base and those we do not share with them are elevated.
It was the grace of altruism that allowed it all to happen in the first place.
Scientists have been demonstrating for years that cooperation among organisms and communities and the act of pure altruism (not reciprocal altruism or kin/group selection) is, in fact, more common in Nature than most of us realize.
Decades of experimentation suggest moral or altruistic qualities in non-human primates, and also provide support for the idea that human morality is innate. A 1964 study found that rhesus monkeys who could pull on a chain to acquire food would refuse to pull for days if doing so delivered a shock to another monkey; they were "literally starving themselves to avoid inflicting pain upon another" (de Waal 2006).
However, some researchers in recent lab studies with chimpanzees, suggested a potential absence of "other-regarding preferences" in test animals and concluded that this confirmed that such preferences are limited to humans, who alone are sophisticated enough for cultural learning, theory of mind, perspective taking and moral judgment to convince them to perform an altruistic act.
It is my opinion that these primate studies, which based their measures of "altruism" on food allocation, may have failed to demonstrate altruism due to the measure, compounded with the laboratory setting. Animals will not behave the same in their natural habitat as in a laboratory; their priorities will be different. I found it interesting that true altruism was demonstrated in life-threatening scenarios over less life-threatening ones, such as the experiments conducted in the lab by various anthropologists using food exchange. My opinion is corroborated by scientists, Keith Jensen and Felix Warneken, who concede that the distinction between food exchange and instrumental helping is a potentially crucial one.
Vervet monkeys give alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys of the presence of predators, even though by doing so they attract attention to themselves and increase their chance of being attacked. Biologists argue that the group that contains a high proportion of alarm-calling monkeys will have a survival advantage over a group containing a lower proportion, thereby encouraging this trait to continue and evolve among individuals. The Vervet monkey crier is Nature's Hero. And Nature's heroes are our real altruists.
de Waal explains that "evolution favors animals that assist each other if by doing so they achieve long-term benefits of greater value than the benefits derived from going it alone and competing with others" (de Waal 2006). The prevalent phenomenon of altruism is Nature's answer to the Prisoner's Dilemma.
"One of the most striking consequences of the study of animal behavior," says anthropologist Robert Sapolsky, "is the rethinking that it often forces of what it is to be human." He notes that "a number of realms, traditionally thought to define our humanity, have now been shown to be shared, at least partially, with nonhuman species" (Sapolsky 2006). This makes some of us uncomfortable. To some, it threatens to make us less special. The corollary is that this demonstrates that we possess intrinsic virtue, not something "painted" on through cultural teaching or diligent personal effort. Of course, it also means that all other beings possess intrinsic value too. In the final analysis, what we generally "know" is colored by what we believe and want to continue believing.
The growing knowledge and eventual acceptance that animals and very young children possess truly altruistic behavior will have deep implications on how we interact with and treat each other, our animal world and Nature generally. Which brings me to ecology and its importance in our daily lives.
We have so separated ourselves from our environment that we no longer know how—or, more importantly, are not inclined—to interact with it. Separation from something that we are a part of creates a disconnect that makes it hard for us to respect or care for. This is what is at the root of altruism: intimacy and a sense of familiarity and identity that fosters empathy and nurtures compassion. Ecology provides an understanding of our natural world that will help us to respect it and everything that is a part of it, ourselves included.
p.s. This link provides a good example of an altruistic act by a "predator" toward a creature obviously not its "kin". Tell me what you think: http://www.korduroy.tv/2010/face-off-with-a-leopard-seal
Bradley, Brenda. 1999 "Levels of Selection, Altruism, and Primate Behavior." The Quarterly Review of Biology 74(2):171-194.
De Waal, Frans, with Robert Wright, Christine Korsgaard, Philip Kitcher, and Peter Singer. 2006 Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Goodall, Jane. 1990 Through A Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Sapolsky, Robert M. 2006 "Social Cultures Among Nonhuman Primates." Current Anthropology 47(4):641-656.
Warneken, F. & Tomasello, M. 2006. "Altruistic Helping In Human Infants and Young Chimpanzees." Science, 311, 1301–1303.
Warneken, F., Hare, B., Melis, A. P., Hanus, D. & Tomasello, M. 2007. " Spontaneous Altruism By Chimpanzees and Young Children." PloS Biology, 5(7), e184.
de Waal, F. B. M. 2008. "Putting the Altruism Back Into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy." Annu. Rev. Psychol., 59, 279–300.
de Waal, F. B. M., Leimgruber, K. & Greenberg, A. R. 2008. "Giving Is Self-rewarding for Monkeys." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA. 105, 13685–13689.


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Every day, we work to renew a heart of a nation and change lives. Our goal is to root out systematic poverty within Ethiopia by providing healthcare, education, food security, adult skills and infrastructure.
Project Mercy, Inc.
7011 Ardmore Ave.
Fort Wayne, IN 46809
(260) 747-2559 (work)
(260) 478-1361 (fax)


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If you still use 35mm cameras for art use you can get a really interesting effect by stacking negatives on top of each other when developing the film. Don't worry you can also recreate the effect in Photoshop for the 99% percent of us who only have digital cameras these days.
Photography weblog PetaPixel recently highlighted the stacked negative photography of Laina Briedis combining photos of people with images of stars or cloudy skies that produce pictures that look like dreamscapes. If you use film cameras and have access to a darkroom you can do this easily by exposing two negatives at the same time on the same enlarger.
For digital images you'll just superimpose one image on top of another and erase areas one of the layers so the other image shows through and recreates the film technique. You'll probably also want to play with the opacity levels of the layers to best achieve the effect.
Create Beautifl Surreal Photographs by Stacking Your Film Negatives | PetaPixel via WonderHowTo


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Word Cookies Splendid [ Cheats ]
We will go today straight to show you all the answers of Word Cookies Splendid. a good word puzzle game that help english practice.
To do so, I have like always found the easiest and general ones and then took some minutes of reflexion to solve the hardest ones.
Now, the cheats are available for you in this topic and will give last chance to bypass this struggling point, take them and follow the next pack answers. BitMango is the developer of this game and this word puzzle game is one of the difficult that exist in the play store. At the same time, it is very interesting.
• SIMPLE&EASYEnjoyable graphics with easy controls & simple premise
• KEEPS YOUR BRAIN YOUNG Stimulating brain game, highly entertaining & educational for everyone
• SHUFFLE TO REARRANGE Shuffle the alphabets & rearrange the letters to spark recognition ✨
• HINTS AVAILABLEUse hints if you stump upon a word you can't identify
• NO NEED TO RUSHThere is no time limit or penalties for inccorrect answers
• DAILY REWARDSPlay every day to earn bonus rewards!
• NEW LEVELS Stay up to date for new game updates!
PS: if you are looking for another level answers, you will find them in the below topic :
Word Cookies Answers
Go catch the answers, just below :
Word Cookies Splendid :
- Word Cookies Splendid Vetiver [ Cheats ]
- Word Cookies Splendid Verbena [ Cheats ]
- Word Cookies Splendid Fingerlime [ Cheats ]
- Word Cookies Splendid Neroli [ Cheats ]
- Word Cookies Splendid Limetta [ Cheats ]
So as not to make you wait too much our team has already prepared for you the answers for the next pack : Inspired Answers .
Thank You


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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
And I'm David Greene. Good morning. Food stamps are used by one in seven Americans. The average recipient receives about $133 a month. Now if that sounds hard to live on, the House and Senate are considering steep cuts in food stamp program - or SNAP benefits, as they're known - as part of a major farm bill. Depending on one's perspective, the cuts would either reform the program by closing loopholes, or cause severe hardship for hungry children and senior citizens. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.
PAM FESSLER, BYLINE: Right now, more than 47 million people get what are called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or SNAP, benefits. It costs almost $80 billion a year, making it one of the biggest government programs. It's also made it one of the biggest targets for those who want to cut government spending.
REPRESENTATIVE REID RIBBLE: SNAP is twice as much money we're spending on our inter Department of Homeland Security. It is three times what we're spending on Department of Justice. It is seven times what we are spending on Department of Interior.
FESSLER: That's Wisconsin Republican Reid Ribble during a House committee debate last week. Ribble says it's good that the government feeds the hungry.
RIBBLE: But it's also good and right and just that we as the fiduciaries of the taxpayers who are paying those dollars, that we're overseeing them in a way that is truly balanced.
FESSLER: So, House Republicans have proposed cutting the program by $20 billion over 10 years. They would no longer allow low-income individuals to automatically qualify for food stamps because they get other government aid, such as welfare. And they'd eliminate programs to increase SNAP enrollment, such as ad campaigns and incentive payments to states. Republicans call these common sense reforms. Not so, say Democrats.
REPRESENTATIVE JIM MCGOVERN: This is not about reform. These aren't thoughtful, innovative cuts in this bill. These are just cuts.
FESSLER: Jim McGovern of Massachusetts says the changes will mean more hunger in America.
MCGOVERN: They're going to hurt people. And we're not going to save money in the long run. You're just going to make more poor people more vulnerable and more miserable.
FESSLER: But his effort to get the committee to restore the cuts failed. The congressional budget office estimates that the changes would mean almost two million fewer SNAP recipients. That's a fact that anti-hunger groups hope to use to fight the cuts when the House considers the bill next month.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Senator from Michigan.
SENATOR DEBBIE STABENOW: I would ask to call for decorum(ph) call.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Without objection.
FESSLER: The Senate began debating its version of the bill this week. It calls for smaller SNAP reductions - about $400 million a year - but the cuts are still controversial. Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, says they'd largely involve closing loopholes.
STABENOW: We create savings by looking at areas where there has been abuse or misuse by a few states on one policy, and by individuals or retailers in other areas, and we tighten that up.
FESSLER: The bill would prevent those with big lottery or gambling winnings from getting SNAP benefits. It would also prevent states from getting low-income individuals as little as a dollar a month in utility aid through a program called LIHEAP so they qualify for higher monthly food stamp benefits. Critics say states are taking advantage of a big loophole.
JAMES ZILIAK: I don't view it as a loophole, but I do view it as perhaps a liberal interpretation of the use of the LIHEAP program.
FESSLER: James Ziliak is director of the Center for Poverty Research at the University of Kentucky. He says states use such maneuvers, in part, to boost food stamp use among senior citizens who often don't apply for benefits even if they're eligible. He says some things that look like loopholes are really effort to streamline government aid for the poor. He thinks the proposed changes will hurt.
ZILIAK: These are real cuts. This is not trimming around the edges. These are potentially real cuts, especially in the House bill.
FESSLER: Efforts to make similar cuts in the Senate bill were defeated yesterday on the Senate but so too was an effort to eliminate the Senate cuts all together. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.
WERTHEIMER: Thus is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Édouard Vuillard, in full Jean-Édouard Vuillard, (born November 11, 1868, Cuiseaux, France - died June 21, 1940, La Baule), French painter, printmaker, and decorator who was a member of the Nabis group of painters in the 1890s.
He is particularly known for his depictions of intimate interior scenes.
Vuillard studied art from 1886-1888 at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
In 1889 he joined a group of art students that included Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Sérusier, Ker-Xavier Roussel, and Félix Vallotton.
They called themselves the Nabis (Hebrew for "Prophets"), and they drew their inspiration from the Synthetist paintings of Paul Gauguin's Pont-Aven period.
Like Gauguin, the Nabis advocated a symbolic, rather than a naturalistic, approach to colour, and they usually applied their paint in ways that emphasized the flat surface of the canvas.
Their admiration of Japanese woodcuts, which were then in vogue in Europe, inspired them to use simplified shapes and strong contours.
Vuillard lived with his widowed mother, a seamstress, until her death, and many of his works deal with domestic and dressmaking scenes set in his mother's bourgeois home.
In the paintings and prints of his Nabi period, he often created flattened space by filling his compositions with the contrasting rich patterns of wallpaper and women's dresses, as seen in paintings such as Woman Sweeping (1899-1900).
Because of their focus on intimate interior scenes, both Vuillard and Bonnard were also called Intimists.
Vuillard's Public Gardens (1894), a series of nine vertical decorative panels, is characteristic of his mature work as a Nabi.
As was common among the artists in the group, who supported the idea of art as decoration, Vuillard was commissioned to create this series as panels to be installed in a private home.
In these panels, Vuillard portrayed women and children in the public gardens of Paris.
He avoided modeling; instead, he applied the paint in distinct areas of patterned colours—soft shades of green, blue, and brown—producing a two-dimensional, tapestry-like effect.
In addition to painting, Vuillard, like most of the other Nabis, was involved in book illustration, poster design, and designs for the theatre.
In 1893 Vuillard helped found Aurélien Lugné-Poë's Théâtre de l'Oeuvre, which produced Symbolist plays. Vuillard designed stage sets and illustrated programs.
In 1899 the Nabis exhibited together for the last time.
That year Vuillard began to paint in a more naturalistic style. He also executed two series of masterful lithographs that reveal his great debt to Japanese woodcuts.
Vuillard continued to receive numerous commissions to paint portraits and decorative works for private patrons as well as for public buildings.
Over the course of nearly 15 years beginning in 1923, he painted intimate portraits of his artist friends Bonnard, Roussel, Denis, and sculptor Aristide Maillol, each portrayed at work in his studio.
His public paintings included the decorations in the foyer of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (1913) and murals in the Palais de Chaillot (1937) and in the League of Nations in Geneva (1939).
Vuillard retained an Intimist sensibility for his entire career; even when painting portraits and landscapes, he instilled his compositions with a sense of quiet domesticity.
In the early 20th century, when European art was influenced by the development of avant-garde styles such as Cubism and Futurism, many critics and artists viewed Vuillard as conservative.
Paintings from his Nabi period received the most popular and critical approval, with critics often dismissing his later work.
However, in the late 20th century, historians and critics began to devote more attention to Vuillard's achievements as a decorative painter and designer. | © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.


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Report says Kitimat, B.C., airshed can accommodate oil, gas, smelter industries
Posted July 18, 2014 2:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER – Kitimat's air, water, land and residents can handle prospective oil, gas and aluminum industry expansions in the area, says a British Columbia Environment Ministry report released Friday.
Environment Minister Mary Polak said the government-funded, independent report concludes that with the proper management, Kitimat's airshed can safely accommodate industrial growth.
Polak said as long as companies use world-leading emission standards, sulphur and nitrogen oxide levels will be significantly reduced and industrial expansion can be managed.
The airshed assessment looked at Rio Tinto Alcan's existing smelter and its upgrade project, a proposed oil refinery, four proposed liquefied-natural-gas facilities, the BC Hydro gas turbine facility, and the predicted increase in marine shipping.
"The study tells us that with proper management there is significant capacity in the Kitimat airshed to safely accommodate industrial growth, while still protecting human health and the environment," said Polak at a news conference. "This report is helping shape management strategies to protect air quality, human health and our overall environment."
Scientists and environmentalists have expressed concerns about emissions from the proposed LNG plants in Kitimat, which is located in a tunnel-like valley, near Douglas Channel, and off the north coast.
Last fall, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, an environmental organization concerned about wild salmon, released a report that estimated three proposed Kitimat LNG plants will burn 2.5 times more natural gas than is consumed in Metro Vancouver annually.
The Liberal government provided $650,000 last October to study industrial development in the area and the potential impacts of air pollution.
That prompted Prof. Douw Steyn of the University of B.C.'s earth, oceans and atmospheric sciences department, to state that business, government and the community must have a better idea of the area's environmental capabilities before massive development occurs.
Clean Energy Canada spokeswoman Merran Smith said burning natural gas to make LNG elevates levels of air pollutants that create acid rain and worsens asthma and respiratory illnesses.
Smith said Kitimat's pollution problems would be greatly reduced if the government required the proposed LNG plants to use electric power instead of natural gas.
"If the industry moves forward with proposals to build gas-fired LNG plants in Kitimat, more people are at greater risk of getting sick more often," said Smith in a statement.
"Proponents can largely eliminate this threat — reducing air emissions by 70 per cent — by powering their plants with electric drives running on locally generated, renewable energy. Industry needs to step up to the plate. Kitimat already has a smog problem. There is simply no need to make it worse."
Polak said the study focused on nitrogen and sulphur oxide emissions and did not examine potential greenhouse gas emissions associated with the proposed LNG plants. She said plans to measure and control GHG emissions associated with global warming will be in other government reports and initiatives, but she did not elaborate.
The airshed report examined potential health and environmental impacts in the area surrounding Kitimat, Kitamaat Village, Gitg'at, Hartley Bay and Terrace.
Polak said the report found low environmental impacts associated with nitrogen dioxide levels, but some increased levels of sulphur dioxide soil contamination and the potential danger of acidification in seven of the area's more than 300 lakes.
B.C.'s lone Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver said the study indicates that increases in sulphur and nitrogen oxides will create human-health hazards.
He said the government is trying to protect its LNG goals by downplaying the report's findings.
"They are trying to paint what is actually a dire conclusion in good light to avoid undermining their LNG dreams," Weaver said in a statement.
"The study undeniably concludes that if you put four LNG plants into Kitimat you will have critical impacts on human health."


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Suppose I am to design a request-response protocol (similar HTTP). For the sake of simplicity let us assume that this is a "chat" protocol where the client can only perform two actions:
- Contribute a message to the chat, where the server responds verifying that the message was sent.
- Request the chat contents, where the server responds with the chat contents.
All requests and responses have confidentiality, authenticity and integrity assurances. Requests and responses are of variable size.
In this protocol, a passive attacker can apply traffic analysis to estimate the size of a message sent, estimate the size of the conversation contents and distinguish between the two types of requests and responses.
The most obvious way to combat this type of traffic-analysis is to send and receive messages of fixed length at fixed intervals, however, due to the nature of the protocol, this is not possible.
How does one combat traffic analysis in such protocols without changing the nature of the protocol or wasting (a lot) bandwidth?
Update: Some of the information derived from traffic analysis of the protocol is of negligible importance for civilian purposes. I am mainly attempting to reduce the amount of information gained from the length of a request or response.
Suppose that the server supports multiple "chatrooms".
Here are two examples of how an attacker could utilize the length of server responses:
- Given that different "chatrooms" do not have contents of equal size, the length of a server response to a "chat contents" request will differ for every "chatroom". This allows a passive attacker to distinguish between "chatrooms" that the user might be accessing.
- In the same way as above, a passive attacker that can monitor the traffic of two users can detect if they participate in the same "chatroom".


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The complaints leveled against Israel by European countries and Australia, regarding the alleged misuse of passports by the Mossad in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, ring hollow and smack of blatant hypocrisy. Whoever did kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh—whether it was the Israeli Mossad or someone else—clearly did have their agents use stolen or forged passports. Big deal.
Every good intelligence agency uses stolen and forged passports. The British have been especially adept at this means of spycraft. No country that uses fake passports in their intelligence operations has the moral authority to complain about the alleged misuse of passports in this case. The only ones that have a legitimate grievance are those individuals whose passports may have been misused without their knowledge.
I guess it's the job of foreign ministries to complain publicly when other nations do what they themselves do secretly. Hypocrisy is, after all, the homage that vice pays to virtue. I'm reminded of the famous scene in Casablanca, when officer Renault declares, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" A croupier then approaches Renault, and hands him a roll of currency: "Your winnings, sir."
The hypocrisy in this case seems even more blatant than usual. Is it because Israel is the alleged offender, and the world has gotten accustomed to singling out Israel for double standard condemnation?
Shortly after the terrorist attacks in Bali, which killed a large number of Australian tourists, I had the opportunity to meet with the Australian Prime Minister. I was writing a book at the time on preemption, and I asked him whether he would have authorized a preemptive attack on the terrorist who killed Australian citizens, if such an attack would have saved their lives. His response was that Australia would have done anything it could, to prevent these terrorist attacks. Anything, I guess, except misusing passports? Is there anybody who believes that Australia would not have used forged or stolen passports to prevent the Bali massacres? If Great Britain could have stopped the London subway attack by misusing passports, would M6 have allowed the terrorism to go forward in the name of preserving passport integrity? Of course not. The same is true of Spain with regard to the Madrid bombing and to every other country in the world that seeks to prevent terrorism. Well, if the Mossad did in fact kill al-Mabhouh, they too did it to prevent the killing of their innocent civilians.
The Israelis are always accused by their enemies, and sometimes even by their friends, of taking "disproportionate" action to stop terrorists. But what could be more proportionate than a carefully planned and specifically targeted attack on an admitted terrorist who boasted of being an active combatant? Whoops! I guess I forgot about those darn passports. That must be the disproportionate action complained about. Saving innocent lives, on the one hand—misusing passports on the other. I guess the right moral resolution, according to some foreign ministries, is to let innocent victims die—at least as long as its only Israeli victims.
It's interesting, and disturbing, that more criticism is being directed against Israel for allegedly using stolen passports than for allegedly killing a terrorist. That's because no Western country wants to appear to be sympathetic to a terrorist. The "victims" of passport fraud are innocent civilians, but the injury they have suffered pales in comparison to the injuries—deaths—prevented by the well-deserved death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
If the deaths of a small number of innocent civilians is deemed "proportional" to the killing of a terrorist combatant, than surely the discomfort of a small number of innocent victims of passport fraud is proportional.
The high dudgeon expressed by foreign ministries over stolen passports is worse than hypocritical. It undercuts the war against terrorism.
There ought to be concern, among Western democracies, about how easy it is to use forged or stolen passports. Dubai should be conducting an investigation, but the focus should be on how simple it was for those carrying these phony passports to get into their country. The misuse of passports is, after all, a primary tool used by terrorists to smuggle themselves into Western countries, from which they can engage in worldwide terrorism. There are thousands of forged and fraudulent British passports circulating around the world today. Many are in the hands of terrorists. That should be the focus of any investigation, not the occasional and controlled misuse of passports by Western intelligence agencies to combat terrorism.
Whoever sneaked into Dubai using fake passports may have done that country a service in warning them to tighten up their passport procedures. Next time it may be a terrorist who tries to enter the country. Wait! Isn't that exactly what happened when al-Mabhouh walked through security using a real passport with his real name? I guess in Dubai you don't have to use a fake passport if you're a terrorist, but you do if you're trying to stop terrorists—at least if the terrorism is directed only against Israel. I guess Dubai is less concerned about letting terrorists into their country with real passports than in letting those who would stop terrorism into their country with fake passports. It's a topsy turvy world out there.


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WPF opposes censorship bills; supports right to create and use anonymization tools to protect privacy
Stop SOPA & PIPA —- The World Privacy Forum is deeply concerned about the profound, far-reaching privacy consequences of two bills, SOPA and PIPA. The bills have many negative aspects. In terms of the privacy impacts, one of the serious consequences is that the right to create and use anonymization software tools would be essentailly